Piano Clinic

The PC Visual and Performing Arts Department will host the thirty-ninth PC Piano Clinic on November 8-9, 2024. The clinic is for piano students (grades 7-12), teachers, and auditors. Featured events include masterclasses (solo and ensemble repertoire), lectures, and recitals by a guest artist and participating students and teachers.

Charles Fugo is currently Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of South Carolina School of Music. He received his baccalaureate degree at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, with
additional study at the Akademie des Mozarteums, Salzburg, Austria, and his MM and DM performance degrees at Indiana University, where he was also awarded the Performer’s Certificate. During his study at Indiana he was named a state winner in the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Division. His principal teachers include Abbey Simon and Joseph Schwartz, with additional study under Winfried Wolf, Jorge Bolet, Sidney Foster, and Robin McCabe, and chamber music coaching under Menahem Pressler of the Beaux Arts Trio.

The recipient of the 2008 Cantey Outstanding Faculty Award given by the School of Music, he was a staff member of the Anderson (SC) Piano Performance Camp and the summer honors program of the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, serving in the latter capacity for thirteen years. He was also official accompanist for the Josef Hofmann Competition, held in Aiken, South Carolina, over a five-year period. For over ten years he was sponsored by the South Carolina Arts Commission (Stage South Community Tour) as a member of the Jesselson/Fugo Duo and the American Arts Trio. A frequent adjudicator, he has judged at local, state, and regional levels. In 2017, he was named a Foundation Fellow by the Music Teachers National Association, and in 2019 he was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame.

He has played collaborative recitals at New York City’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and has recorded the complete music for viola and piano by Robert Schumann in collaboration with Lenny Schranze as well as transcriptions for double bass of works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Franz Schubert, and César Franck in collaboration with Craig Butterfield, both issued on Centaur Records. As a member of the Jesselson/Fugo Duo he also participated in a CD available online,
“Carolina Cellobration,” featuring works of six South Carolina composers for cello and piano commissioned by the Duo. He has performed throughout the southeast as well as in other areas of the United States, and appeared frequently on South Carolina Educational Radio and Television as both soloist and chamber musician.

As a soloist, Dr. Taylor has performed in recitals and with orchestras in the United States and in Europe. A frequent collaborative performer, he has toured with solo singers, choirs and instrumentalists across the United States and in such diverse places as Germany, Austria, Italy, Vatican City, Scotland, Greece, and Israel. He lectures frequently for music teacher organizations and has made presentations at state and national conferences sponsored by Music Teachers National Association, National Conference on Piano Pedagogy, and Music Educators National Conference. He enjoys adjudicating auditions, festivals and competitions, and is the author of several articles relating to piano pedagogy. His latest publication is a music review for MTNA’s Music Teacher magazine.

Dr. Taylor served for ten years on the piano and pedagogy faculty at the University of South Carolina School of Music and fifteen years on the faculty of the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville, South Carolina, where he chaired the music department and taught piano-related lessons and coursework. Dr. Taylor also served on the faculties of the SCGSAH Academy and Discovery programs from their respective inceptions in 1990 and 2004 until 2021. Former students have attended such institutions as The Juilliard School, Northwestern University, Indiana University, UNC School of the Arts, and numerous other schools in the region. Current and former students have been prize winners in the Aloha International Piano Competition in Honolulu and in MTNA sponsored competitions, as well as in many state concerto competitions.

Dr. Taylor holds performance and pedagogy degrees from The Juilliard School, the University of Louisville, and the University of South Carolina, where his major professors included Ania Dorfmann, Lee Luvisi, Max Camp, and Raymond Dudley.

Dr. Ann B. Wilson enjoys a career as an independent teacher of piano performance, piano pedagogy and music theory. A frequent lecturer, curriculum author, masterclass clinician, and adjudicator for piano competitions throughout the southeast, Dr. Wilson has been named a Steinway Top Teacher multiple years and was honored as Teacher of the Year in 2017 by SC Music Teachers Association.

Students of Dr. Wilson are scholarship recipients to leading institutions across the US, have been selected to prestigious summer programs, including the Southeastern Piano Festival at the University of SC, and are first place winners in numerous competitions: including the Lyceum International Piano Series Competition, SC Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities Junior Artist Piano Competition, all divisions of the SC Piano Festival Association auditions, Walter B. Roberts Scholarship Competition, Columbia Music Teachers Association Scholarship Competition, Bob Jones University HS Festival Classical Piano Competition, Sylvia E. Looney Scholarship Competition, Music Clubs of Columbia Scholarship Competition, Elizabeth Avinger Competition, Floride Smith Dean Music Scholarship Competition, and MTNA-affiliated competitions.

Dr. Wilson holds degrees in piano and piano pedagogy from the University of South Carolina where, as an assistant to Max Camp, she taught piano and piano pedagogy and was a co-lecturer in the USC Summer Music Courses with Dr. Stephen Taylor. Her principal professors were Bong Hi Kim, Max Camp and Charles Fugo.

Dr. Wilson has served as the piano instructor for the Odyssey Summer Program of the SC Governor’s School for the Arts, and Junior Division Coordinator for SC’s MTNA Performance Competitions. A past president of SC Piano Festival Association and Columbia Music Teachers Association, Dr. Wilson is currently State Festival Chairman for SC Piano Festival Association and serves on the Board of Directors of Classical Healing Keys, a non-profit corporation that uses classical music to promote awareness, de-stigmatize, and provide support for those who struggle with mental illness.

A resident of Lexington, SC, Dr. Wilson is married to Harry Wilson, whose collegiate studies were in vocal performance. Their two daughters, Victoria Wilson Boyce and Ann Forrest Wilson Bowers, hold degrees in music from Florida State University.

• Wendy Freeland, Jacksonville State University guest artist recital and Lecture, February 2024
• Kaju Lee, guest artist recital, February 28, 2020
• Kaju Lee, guest artist Master Class and Lecture, February 29, 2020
• Alexander Peskanov, guest artist recital, February 22, 2019 (35th year of the PC Piano Clinic)
• Alexander Peskanov Master Class and Lecture, February 23, 2019
• Emily Chiang, University of Toronto guest artist recital, February 16, 2018
• Emily Chiang Lecture and Master Class February 17, 2018
• Kenneth Drake and Jun Hee Han, fortepiano, guest artists recital, February 17, 2017
• Kenneth Drake Pianoforte Lecture/Demonstration (February 17, 2017 for PC Students and February 18, 2017 for Clinic Participants)
• Kenneth Drake, Professor Emeritus University of Illinois, guest artist recital February 19, 2016
• Kenneth Drake Master Class and Lecture/Demonstration February 20, 2016
• Carles&Sofia, Spanish guest duo recital March 21, 2015
• Carles&Sofia, Master Class and Lecture March 21, 2015
• Ang Li, guest artist recital March 21, 2014 (30th year of the PC Piano Clinic)
• Ang Li Master Class and Lecture/Demonstration March 22, 2014
• Timothy and Rumi Smith, University of Alaska-Anchorage, guest artists recital March 15, 2013
• Timothy Smith Master Class and Lecture/Demonstration March 16, 2013
• Awadagin Pratt, guest artist recital March 30, 2012
• Awadagin Pratt Master Class March 31, 2012
• Andreas Klein, guest artist recital March 18, 2011
• Andreas Klein Master Class March 19, 2011
• Louis Nagel, University of Michigan, guest artist recital March 12, 2010
• Louis Nagel Master Class March 13, 2010
• Jerome Lowenthal, Juilliard School, guest artist recital March 20, 2009
• Jerome Lowenthal Master Class March 21, 2009
• Walter Ponce, UCLA, guest artist recital February 15, 2008
• Seymour Fink, Capital University, Master Class February 16, 2008 No Piano Clinic – 2006, 2007
• Ian Hobson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, guest artist recital January 28, 2005
• Ian Hobson Master Class 2005 January 29, 2005
• Nelita True, Eastman School of Music, guest artist recital January 30, 2004
• Nelita True Master Class January 31, 2004
• Alexander Peskanov, NYC pianist, guest artist recital January 31, 2003
• Alexander Peskanov Master Class February 1, 2003
• Ann Schein, Peabody Conservatory of Music, guest artist recital February 1, 2002
• Ann Schein, Master Class February 2, 2002